This note provides practical advice on how to adopt a human rights-based assessment for the design, strategy, and implementation of service delivery by citizen service centers. Designed for World Bank teams conducting preliminary assessments, the tool presented here can also beuseful to clients such as citizen service center managers to deepen their understanding of the value of a human rights based assessment and to improve the quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of service delivery. The tool consists of an introduction to the human rights-based approach (HRBA), its relevance to citizen service centers, rationales for adopting the approach, and a 20-question survey instrument.


This paper describes the development of an invaluable power quality tool through the application of a 120 kVA three-phase programmable ac power source with an integrated arbitrary waveform generator. Implementation details and the programmable source characteristics are presented, including experimental results that demonstrate the flexibility of the source/arbitrary waveform generator to simulate common power quality disturbances such as voltage sags, swells, outages, harmonics, unbalance, and capacitor switching transients. Example test bed environments are developed and discussed allowing for the comprehensive power quality testing of loads such as adjustable speed drive systems, line-operated motors, and power supplies. Remote programming and control of the arbitrary waveform generator, including the development of an instrument driver library database, through LabVIEW are also discussed.


Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) has so many complications, such as haemorrhage and gastrocutaneous fistula, and can be treated with several common procedures. When the common procedures are not successful, we must perform new procedures, such as eFe technique. We use this technique for gastrostomy tube removal at the same session to prevent fistula formation in our clinical practice. Sometimes, leakage beside the gastrostomy tube can be seen during feeding from PEG; we also treat this problem with the same eFe technique in our clinic. We used this technique for the treatment of hemorrhage due to PEG for the first time when could not control with routine procedures and became successful.


Plato arguably stands as one of the precursors to what we today know as the Just War Tradition, and he has more to say about ethics and the use of force than what is often acknowledged. In this article I try to show, by analyzing selected passages and perspectives from the Republic, that Plato regards the role of military ethics as crucial in the construction of the ideal city, and he sees limitation of brutality and more generally a philosophical approach to the use of force as crucial elements of the city's approach to warfare. Military power and, indeed, harsh preparations for it do occupy a central position in Plato's political thought, but use of armed force is at the same time closely linked to the virtue of justice as well as the other virtues.


With the deterministic nature and the difficulty of scaling, Hopfield-style neural network is readily to converge to one of local minima in the course of energy function minimization, not to escape from those undesirable solutions. Many researchers, who want to find the global minimum of the traveling salesman problem (TSP), have introduced various approaches to solve such conditions including heuristics, genetic algorithms, hybrid algorithms of some methods, etc. We introduce a simple heuristic algorithm which embeds the classical local search heuristics into the optimization neural network. The proposed algorithm is characterized with the best neighbors selection, which is used in the dynamic scheduling and in ordering the update sequence of neurons, and with the decidability check which is used to guarantee the near-optimal solution. The proposed algorithm enhances both the convergence speed and the quality of solutions.<<ETX>>


1 Nowadays, occurrence of mass movement in the northern forests of Iran, especially in the Golestan province is turning to be a usual phenomenon. Because of decay of vegetation cover, prediction of landslide occurrence will prevent its damages. Landslide hazard zonation is a suitable way in this case. Selection of the best model is a way to decrease costs and time. Consequently, land slide hazard zonation with best models will cause getting better results. In this study, capability of two experimental models including Mora-Varson and Haeri-Sameai methods, a statistic model together with relative effect model have been tested for land slide hazard zonation in the Seyed Kalateh watershed at Ramian, Golestan province, using Sum of Quality for evaluation of efficiency of landslide hazard zonation methods. Results showed that relative effect method could better separate the hazard zones compared to other used methods. Comparing the experimental methods, Haery method is more effective than the Mora method.


Visual tracking is a challenging task due to unconstrained appearance variations and dynamic surrounding backgrounds, which basically arise from the complex motion of the target object. Therefore, the information and the correlation between the target motion and its resulting appearance should be considered comprehensively to achieve robust tracking performance. In this paper, we propose a deep neural network for visual tracking, namely the Motion-Appearance Dual (MADual) network, which employs a dual-branch architecture, by using deep two-dimensional (2D) and deep three-dimensional (3D) convolutions to integrate the local and global information of the target object's motion and appearance synchronously. For each frame of a tracking video, 2D convolutional kernels of the deep 2D branch slide over the frame to extract its global spatial-appearance features. Meanwhile, 3D convolutional kernels of the deep 3D branch are used to collaboratively extract the appearance and the associated motion features of the visual target from successive frames. By sliding the 3D convolutional kernels along a video sequence, the model is able to learn the temporal features from previous frames, and therefore, generate the local patch-based motion patterns of the target. Sliding the 2D kernels on a frame and the 3D kernels on a frame cube synchronously enables a better hierarchical motion-appearance integration, and boosts the performance for the visual tracking task. To further improve the tracking precision, an extra ridge-regression model is trained for the tracking process, based not only on the bounding box given in the first frame, but also on its synchro-frame-cube using our proposed Inverse Temporal Training method (ITT). Extensive experiments on popular benchmark datasets, OTB2013, OTB50, OTB2015, UAV123, TC128, VOT2015 and VOT2016, demonstrate that the proposed MADual tracker performs favorably against many state-of-the-art methods.


Background:Visceral pain can be disabling for patients and challenging to treat in the clinic. Spinal cord stimulation is a NICE approved treatment for chronic neuropathic pain, presenting potential advantages over conventional therapies for managing chronic visceral pain. Results: A retrospective study revealed that a specific type of spinal cord stimulation, BurstDRTM (Abbott, TX, USA), was effective at improving pain and quality of life in patients with chronic visceral pain. Baseline pain scores significantly correlated with change at follow-up, suggesting it may be possible to identify potential responders from the outset. BurstDR was safe: rates of revision, explantation and complications were low. Conclusion: Clinical trials exploring the long-term effects of BurstDR including a control arm are needed. Findings could have the potential to inform best practice and improve outcomes for individuals with chronic visceral pain.


BACKGROUND: Adolescents and adults born as small preterm infants show more pronounced risk factors of cardiovascular disease. Whether similar risks apply across all degrees of preterm birth is poorly known. METHODS: We studied the association between preterm birth and cardiovascular risk factors in 6642 16-year-old adolescents of the population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. Of these, 79 (1.2%) were born at <34 gestational weeks (early preterm), 238 (3.6%) at 34 to 36 weeks (late preterm), and 6325 at term (controls). RESULTS: Girls born early preterm had 6.7 mm Hg (95% confidence interval: 3.1–10.2) higher systolic blood pressure (BP) and 3.5 mm Hg (1.1–5.8) higher diastolic BP, but no difference in serum lipid levels compared with control girls. Boys showed no differences in BP, but boys born early preterm had 6.7% (0.2%–13.7%) higher total cholesterol, 11.7% (2.1%–22.3%) higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and 12.3% (3.1%–22.4%) higher apolipoprotein B concentrations. The differences were similar (BP) or stronger (lipids) when adjusted for maternal smoking, birth weight SD score, parental education, pubertal stage, BMI, and lifestyle. There were similar associations with length of gestation as a continuous variable. Accordingly, mean differences between late preterm and controls were in the same direction but weaker, although most were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Preterm birth was associated with elevated BP in adolescent girls and an atherogenic lipid profile in boys. Because these associations were strongest among those born early preterm, our findings are consistent with a dose-response relationship between shorter length of gestation and cardiovascular risk factors.


An analysis of Delay and Sum beamforming using microphone arrays with two-dimensional stochastic geometry in an office environment is carried out with two metrics proposed to rate the performance of these arrays: main lobe width (MLW) and peak-to-sidelobe ratio (PSR). Geometries with irregular microphone placements use a dispersion measure analogous to aperture and centroid to indicate array center relative to focal point. Sets of stochastic arrays are generated though Monte Carlo simulations and their performance is evaluated using the proposed metrics for varying number of microphones, sound source frequency, centroid location, and dispersion and compared to rectangular arrays. Performance results show increasing the number of microphones in a stochastic geometry increases the average PSR by 3 dB per doubling of microphones but remains one standard deviation below regular array performance while MLW remains relatively constant and close to that of the regular arrays. Increasing target frequency reduced MLW for both stochastic and regular geometries. Both types of arrays lost PSR while regular arrays were 5–10 dB superior. For increasing centroid displacement regular arrays display similar or inferior performance in PSR by as much as 5 dB versus the random arrays and mostly similar performance in MLW. Increasing the array dispersion reduces both the MLW and PSR, where the MLW for the stochastic geometries is on par with the corresponding regular geometries and the PSR is on the order of 5 to 10 dB below the regular arrays.


Although rare patients with chronic hepatitis B can achieve HBsAg loss on oral nucleos(t)ide analog (NA), the optimal timing of stopping oral NAs safely has been considered when HBsAg and HBV DNA are negative in the serum because HBsAg loss induced by nucleos(t)ide analogs (NAs) appears to be durable if immunosuppressive therapy or chemotherapy are not done. On the other hand, the author experienced a case of HBsAg seroreversion and acute decompensation after the discontinuation of NA in a patient with HBsAg loss. This rare case highlights the need for the close monitoring of patients who achieved HBsAg loss and stopped NA. (Korean J Gastroenterol 2020;76:256-260)


Background: In Italy, psychiatric compulsory treatments are regulated by Law 180 of 13-5-1978 that establishes three criteria: 1) acute psychiatric conditions requiring urgent treatment, 2) patient's refusal of treatment, 3) inpatient treatment is necessary and cannot be postponed. Aim: To highlight demographic and clinical risk factors for involuntary treatments. Methods: We retrospectively collected all hospitalizations in the Service of Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment of a northern Italian town from 1-1-2015 to 31-12-2015. We statistically compared demographic and clinical variables related to voluntarily and involuntarily admitted patients and their hospitalizations. Results: We divided our sample into patients voluntarily hospitalized (PVH=236) and involuntarily (PIH=160) according to their voluntary (VH= 304) and involuntary (IH=197) hospitalizations. PIH were older than PVH and, more frequently, lived alone and were unemployed (p<0.001). "Acute worsening of psychopathology" for IH and "Suicidality" for VH were the prevalent reasons (p<0.001). IH was longer than VH (p<0.001). Among PIH, the most frequent diagnoses were "Schizophrenia and Other Psychosis" (ICD-9-CM) and "Ineffective Impulse Control + Disturbed Personal Identity" (NANDA-I) (p<0.001). During hospitalizations, PIH more often than PVH presented aggressive behavior (p<0.001). At discharge, PIH were more frequently sent to another psychiatric ward or protected facility with long-acting injectable antipsychotics (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our involuntarily admitted patients were affected by severe psychiatric disorders with social maladjustment and required complex therapeutic and rehabilitative programs to counteract aggressive behaviour, poor therapeutic compliance and prolonged hospitalizations. The assessment of patients' characteristics can help clinicians recognize who are at risk for compulsory treatment and prevent it.


There is a connection between the efficiency of oils and their wear and/or surface damage protective properties, an area not so well described in the literature. One such damage mode is macroscale contact fatigue on gear tooth flank surfaces, also called pitting. The present study is aimed at investigating the correlation between gear oils' physical properties, important in terms of gear transmission losses, and pitting life. Eight gear oils were formulated giving different combinations of base oil, viscosity, and concentration of friction modifiers. All eight oils also contained an additive package designed to meet GL-5 specifications. This study consists of three parts. In the first, the oils' physical properties were measured using a set of bench tests. In the second, the pitting lives of the oils were evaluated using rolling four-ball tests. The third part deals with the correlation between the measured physical properties of the oils and their pitting lives. This is achieved through multiple linear regression, with a view to finding the salient properties that have a significant influence on pitting life. The results show that gear oils' physical properties do have a large influence on the pitting lives. Oil properties that lower interfacial tangential stresses are beneficial in enhancing pitting life.


Mou Zongsan (1909-1995), an eminent representative of contemporary Neoconfucianism, insists that intellectual intuition plays a central role within Chinese thought because it allows the achievement of self-perfection that opens the door to holiness. Rather than being the "limiting concept" of Kant, Mou Zongsan explains that for Confucians, Daoists or Buddhists intellectual intuition is what allows the individual to be on an equal footing with the invisible and noumenal dimension of reality. Although Mou Zongsan 's approach is not without interest, it does pose a problem: Is the intellectual intuition which he sees at work in Chinese thought really congruent with what certain thinkers of the Western tradition refer to by this name?


We develop an approach to solve Barberis (2012)'s casino gambling model in which a gambler whose preferences are specified by the cumulative prospect theory (CPT) must decide when to stop gambling by a prescribed deadline. We assume that the gambler can assist their decision using an independent randomization, and explain why it is a reasonable assumption. The problem is inherently time-inconsistent due to the probability weighting in CPT, and we study both precommitted and naive stopping strategies. We turn the original problem into a computationally tractable mathematical program, based on which we derive an optimal precommitted rule which is randomized and Markovian. The analytical treatment enables us to make several predictions regarding a gambler's behavior, including that with randomization they may enter the casino even when allowed to play only once, that whether they will play longer once they are granted more bets depends on whether they are in a gain or at a loss, and that it is prevalent that a naivite never stops loss.


Abstract : It has been reported that low dose sarin is associated with long-term pathology in the brain and heart; however, the effects of sarin on the heart have yet to be determined. In addition, sarin has been implicated as an etiological agent in Gulf War Illness. Thus, the role of sarin in producing illness has important military implications. This study used echocardiography, electrocardiography, and histology to determine sarin's effect on the murine cardiovascular system. C57BL/6J mice were injected with sarin at 0.4 LD50, 0.5 LD50, or saline on two consecutive days and studied for 10 weeks post exposure. The sarin animals had marked increases in heart weight to body weight ratios (p = 0.026) and the left ventricular lumen size was significantly decreased (p = 0.0014). In addition, cardiomyocytes were significantly larger in the sarin mice (p = 0.025), and atrial/brain natriuretic peptide levels were increased (p = 0.028 and 0.010, respectively). Results of the electrocardiograms show significant ST/T-wave changes in the sarin groups (p = 0.0015 and 0.032, respectively). Similarly, echocardiograms showed significantly decreased performance of the left ventricle in the sarin animals. This study indicates that sarin plays a role in cardiac remodeling and reducing cardiac performance.


Experiments with an ionisation detector were performed in order to determine whether it was possible to obtain high energy photon beam images for radiotherapy treatment verification. A small prototype detector with a field of view of 78 mm X 78 mm and constructed from printed circuit boards was used. The imaging area was a matrix ionisation chamber, filled with air or liquid (2,2,4-trimethylpentane). A minicomputer was used to control the data acquisition electronics and to reconstruct and restore the images. The images were displayed on a viewing console for computed tomography images. The liquid filled detector with a front-rear board separation of 1.0 mm gave the best results. The spatial resolution was about 3.8 mm with a density resolution of 0.5% for a data acquisition time of 120 s. Comparison of the liquid detector images with corresponding metal screen-film detector images showed that the image qualities were the same. An important advantage of the ionisation detector image is that grey scale modification, sharpening and smoothing by digital processing can easily be performed.


In the agricultural sector, it is important to appropriately develop livestock resources in of developing countries in order to reduce poverty. The aim of this study was to investigate the animal handling and welfare issues during transport for marketing with special focus on cattle flow to and from Gudar livestock market and activity chain of Ambo abattoir in Ethiopia. Information and data on main feeder markets to Gudar regional market; the main stakeholders in this animal supply chain; number of animals flow to and from Gudar market; the distance and time duration the animals transported; animal handling and welfare concerns during transport and at market site; and activities in Ambo abattoir chain were gathered, interpreted and discussed. The study indicated that the flow of cattle to and from Gudar market was by walk- ing which took up to 4 days or by vehicles which took up to 3 h. There were no appropriate vehicle and loading facili- ties and animal handling conditions were poor. From total number of animals supplied to Gudar market about 7.6% died, 6.9% injured and 2.8% was stolen during transport. During transport from Gudar to final destination by walking, about 16% died and 10.7% was injured. The effect of animal number (p = 0.0498) was slightly significant than the effect of travel distance (p = 0.3487) on the occurrence of incidences such as animal death and injuries, at significance level of 0.05. Lameness and injury to bone, muscle, swelling of leg and sickness were widely observed during transportation by walking. Poor market infrastructures; lack of regional abattoir facilities; difficulties in getting timely market information; and lack of well-organized networks between stakeholders were also identified as existing problems compromising the animal welfare and economic benefits. Therefore, further research works concerning animal welfare during animal flow in the supply chain; and impact of abattoir activities on environment and human and animal health should be conducted. Such studies important to improve the economic benefits gained from livestock resources with positive contribution towards efforts of insuring food security and sustainable development.


In acquiring number words, children exhibit a qualitative leap in which they transition from understanding a few number words, to possessing a recursive system of interrelated numerical concepts. We present a computational framework for understanding this inductive leap as the consequence of statistical inference over a sufficiently powerful representational system. We provide an implemented model that is powerful enough to learn number word meanings and other related conceptual systems from naturalistic data. The model shows that bootstrapping can be made computationally and philosophically well-founded as a theory of number learning. Our approach demonstrates how learners may combine core cognitive operations to build sophisticated representations during the course of development, and how this process explains observed developmental patterns in number word learning.


The Porter hypothesis postulates that the costs of compliance with environmental standards may be offset by adoption of innovations they trigger. We model this hypothesis using a game of timing of technology adoption. We will show that times of adoption will be earlier if the non-adoption tax is higher. The environmental tax will turn the preemption game with low profits into a game with credible precommitment generating higher profits (pro-Porter). If there is a precommitment game without environmental taxes, the introduction of a tax will lead to lower profits (anti-Porter). An evaluation of the empirical literature indicates that the Porter hypothesis will hold even for profit-maximizing firms under multiple market imperfections such as imperfect competition, X-inefficiency, and agency costs. These are more likely to be present in sectors with large firms. In many case studies that we have evaluated, though, we detected an element of explicit or implicit subsidies for environmentally friendly behaviour, which is in line with Pigovian policies.


Both experimental chagasic infection and immunization with Trypanosoma cruzi cytoplasmic ribosome in rabbits and mice elicited antibodies cross-reacting with cytoplasmic ribosomal antigens of both parasite and normal mouse myocardium. The close resemblance of the response achieved in mice and rabbits, either after immunization with T. cruzi ribosomes or infection with the virulent parasite, suggests that autoantibodies to cytoplasmic ribonucleoproteins of different origins represent a noteworthy feature of the immune response in experimental Chagas' disease.


OBJECTIVE
To histologically assess and clinically co-relate the effectiveness of cryogen Tetrafluoroethane (TFE) for gingival depigmentation procedure.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Twelve patients having unaesthetic gingival melanin pigmentation were included in the study. Gingival tissues of eight patients having gingival melanin pigmentation undergoing gingivoplasty or gingivectomy for crownlengthening were exposed to the cryogen and this was used for the histological examination. Gingivectomies were done after 8, 24, 96 hours and after a week of application of tetrafluoroethane. Four fair skinned patients complaining of unaesthetic gingival hyperpigmentation underwent gingival depigmentation using Tetrafluoroethane cryogen.

RESULTS
Histologically after 96 hours of application of cryogen there was complete loss of retepegs and epithelial detachment from the corium was evident. Complete re - epithelialisation was noted after a week and was clinically correlated.

CONCLUSION
We therefore, concluded that histologically tetrafluoroethane can effectively destroy gingival epithelium without causing damage to the connective tissue and clinically the color of the gingiva had more pleasing appearance 6 months postoperatively. Hence the cryogen can be used safely for depigmentation procedure.


An array of plasmonic nanoparticles can sustain surface plasmon modes from visible to infrared spectral range and thus offers effective surface light trapping, enhancement of local fields, and interaction with the thin active regions of optical devices. We report the fabrication and optical characterization of a planar Ge/Si quantum dot (QD) detector grown on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate for photodetection in the near-infrared telecommunication wavelength range. The multilayer Ge/Si QD heterostructures are near-field coupled to the adjacent layers of aluminum nanodisks on the detector top. The periodic Al disk arrays have the square lattice symmetry with a lattice constant of 400 nm and the disk diameter varying from 150 to 225 nm. A significant enhancement in the room-temperature detector sensitivity is achieved due to the excitation of localized surface plasmons supported by the metallic disks and radiative coupling to the SOI waveguide modes. Through extinction spectroscopy and numerical modeling, we confirm the emergence of nanoparticle-induced plasmon resonances near the Si–Al interface. We demonstrate that an appropriate choice of the array periodicity and the size of the metal disks is able to increase the photodetector's efficiency by ∼ 40× at λ = 1.2 μ m and by 15× at λ ≈ 1.55 μ m relative to a bare detector with no plasmonic structure. These outcomes pave the way toward the use of Al as a low-cost plasmonic material with potential applications in infrared photodetection similar to those of the noble metals.


Since individuals with Addison's disease (AD) present considerable co-occurrence of additional autoimmune conditions, clustering of autoimmunity was also predicted among their relatives. The study was aimed to assess circulating autoantibodies in first-degree relatives of patients with AD and to correlate them with the established genetic risk factors (PTPN22 rs2476601, CTLA4 rs231775, and BACH2 rs3757247). Antibodies were evaluated using validated commercial assays, and genotyping was performed using TaqMan chemistry. The studied cohort comprised 112 female and 75 male relatives. Circulating autoantibodies were found in 69 relatives (36.9%). Thyroid autoantibodies, that is antibodies to thyroid peroxidase (aTPO) and thyroglobulin (aTg), were detectable in 25.1 and 17.1% relatives, respectively. Antibodies to 21-hydroxylase (a21OH) were found in 5.8% individuals, and beta cell-specific antibodies to ZnT8, GAD, and IA2 were found in 7.5, 8.0, and 2.7%, respectively. The prevalence of a21OH (P = 0.0075; odds ratio (OR) 7.68; 95% CI 1.903–36.0), aTPO (P < 0.0001; OR 3.85; 95% CI 1.873–7.495), and aTg (P < 0.0001; OR 7.73; 95% CI 3.112–19.65), as well as aGAD (P = 0.0303; OR 3.38; 95% CI 1.180–9.123) and aZnT8 (P = 0.032; OR 6.40; 95% CI 1.846–21.91), was significantly increased in carriers of rs2476601 T allele. Moreover, T allele appeared to be a risk factor for multiple circulating autoantibody specificities (P = 0.0009; OR 5.79; 95% CI 1.962–15.81). None of the studied autoantibodies demonstrated significant association with rs231775 in CTLA4 (P > 0.05), and only weak association was detected between BACH2 rs3757247 and circulating aTPO (P = 0.0336; OR 2.12; 95%CI 1.019–4.228). In conclusion, first-degree relatives of patients with AD, carriers of the PTPN22 rs2476601 T allele, are at particular risk of developing autoantibodies to endocrine antigens.


Background: The management of mild to moderate dementia presents complex and evolving challenges. Practising physicians are often uncertain about the appropriate approaches to issues such as the disclosure of the diagnosis, driving and caregiver support. In this article, we provide practical guidance on management based on recommendations from the Third Canadian Consensus Conference on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia. Methods: We developed evidence-based guidelines using systematic literature searches, with specific criteria for the selection and quality assessment of articles, and a clear and transparent decision-making process. We selected articles published from January 1996 to December 2005 that dealt with the management of mild to moderate stages of Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia. Recommendations based on the literature review were drafted and voted on. Consensus required 80% or more agreement by participants. Subsequent to the conference, we searched for additional articles published from January 2006 to April 2008 using the same major keywords and secondary search terms. We graded the strength of evidence using the criteria of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. Results: We identified 1615 articles, of which 954 were selected for further study. From a synthesis of the evidence in these studies, we made 48 recommendations for the management of mild to moderate dementia (28) and dementia with a cerebrovascular component (8) as well as recommendations for addressing ethical issues (e.g., disclosure of the diagnosis) (12). The updated literature review did not change these recommendations. In brief, patients and their families should be informed of the diagnosis. Although the specifics of managing comorbid conditions might require modification, standards of care and treatment targets would not change because of a mild dementia. The use of medications with anticholinergic effects should be minimized. There should be proactive planning for driving cessation, since this will be required at some point in the course of progressive dementia. The patient's ability to drive should be determined primarily on the basis of his or her functional abilities. An important aspect of care is supporting the patient's primary caregiver. Interpretation: Much has been learned about the care of patients with mild to moderate dementia and the support of their primary caregivers. There is a pressing need for the development, and dissemination, of collaborative systems of care.


This study investigates the periodic event-triggered control for the hand position centroid consensus/formation problems of multiple non-holonomic wheeled mobile robots. By constructing invertible input transformation, the dynamics of the hand positions are formulated as two groups of first-order integrators. Then, the event-triggered control laws and the event conditions are proposed. On the basis of Lyapunov theory and the algebraic graph theory, permissible value ranges of the sampling period and the event condition parameters are established, guaranteeing that all the hand positions asymptotically tend to the common initial centroid location or the desired formation shape centred at the initial centroid. In addition, the orientations and the velocity inputs of each robot are ensured to reach some constants and zeros, respectively. Finally, simulations illustrate the efficiency of the proposed theoretical results.


Abstract Given the importance of risk‐taking in individuals' personal and professional life, several behavioral tasks for measuring the construct have been developed. Recently, a new task was introduced, the Columbia Card Task (CCT). This task measures participants' risk levels and establishes how sensitive participants are to gains, losses, and probabilities when taking risk. So far, the CCT has been examined in behavioral studies and in combination with several (neuro)biological techniques. However, no electroencephalography (EEG) research has been done on the task. The present study fills this gap and helps to validate this relatively new experimental task. To this end, n = 126 students were asked to complete self‐reports (reward responsiveness, impulsiveness, and sensation‐seeking) and to perform the CCT (and other risk tasks) in an EEG setup. The results show that feedback appraisal after risky decision‐making in the CCT was accompanied by a feedback‐related negativity (FRN) and a P300, which were stronger in response to negative than positive feedback. Correlations between the FRN and P300 difference wave on the one hand and risk‐related self‐reports and behavior on the other were nonsignificant and small, but were mostly in the expected direction. This pattern did not change after excluding participants with psychiatric/neurological disorders and outliers. Excluding participants with reversed (positive > negative) difference waves strengthened FRN correlations. The impact such individuals can have on the data should be taken into account in future studies. Regarding the CCT in particular, future studies should also address its oddball structure and its masking of true values (censoring).


Objectives We sought to estimate the mortality and morbidity in diabetic acute heart failure (AHF) patients stratified by left ventricular ejection fraction. Methods We analyzed the data of patients with AHF from seven Middle Eastern countries (Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) from February to November 2012, who were enrolled in a multinational registry of patients with heart failure (HF). Results A total of 2258 AHF patients had diabetes mellitus. The mean age was 63.0±11.0 years (ranging from 18 to 99 years), and 60.3% (n = 1362) of the patients were males. The mean ejection fraction (EF) was 37.0±13.0%. HF with reduced EF (< 40%) (HFrEF) was observed in 1268 patients (56.2%), whereas 515 patients (22.8%) had mid-range (40–49%) (HFmrEF) and 475 patients (21.0%) had preserved EF (3 50%) (HFpEF). The overall cumulative all-cause mortalities at three- and 12-months follow-up were 11.8% (n = 266) and 20.7% (n = 467), respectively. Those with HFpEF were associated with lower three-months cumulative all-cause mortality compared to those with HFrEF (7.6% vs. 5.9%; adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.54, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.31–0.95; p = 0.031), but not significantly different when compared to those with HFmrEF (aOR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.53–1.40; p = 0.554). There were largely no significant differences among the groups with regards to the 12-months all-cause cumulative mortality (11% vs. 11% vs. 10%; p = 0.984). There were also no significant differences in re-hospitalization rates between the three HF groups not only at three months (23% vs. 20% vs. 22%; p = 0.520), but at one-year follow-up (28% vs. 30% vs. 32%; p = 0.335). Conclusions Three-month cumulative all-cause mortality was high in diabetic HFrEF patients when compared to those with HFpEF. However, there were no significant differences in mortality at one-year follow-up between the HF groups. There were also no significant differences in re-hospitalization rates between the HF groups not only at three months but also at one-year follow-up in the Middle East.


Following lockdowns in 2020 owing to Covid-19, schools needed to find a way to ensure the education of their pupils. In order to do this, they engaged in digital learning, to varying extents. Innovations emanated from all school staff including, for example, teachers, leaders and teaching assistants. Some were already innovating in this area and brought forward and implemented digital strategies, while others engaged with digital learning for the first time. While research is emerging about the effects of the pandemic restrictions on pupils and staff in relation to key issues such as mental health and educational attainment, very little is known about the impact on school leaders' strategic planning processes. To address this gap, this paper draws on a UK Research and Innovation funded study adopting a strategy as learning approach to report on 50 qualitative interviews with school leaders to examine digital strategy in English secondary schools, before, during and after July 2021, when restrictions were lifted in England. It draws on strategy as learning literature to evaluate if schools have changed their strategic planning for digital learning, as a direct response to having learned and innovated during the pandemic. The paper concludes that there is evidence that digital innovations during the pandemic have changed the ways in which leaders think about their digital strategy, thus supporting a strategy as learning approach. However it also concludes that although there is ample evidence that the pandemic has changed the way many schools view digital learning, for some schools, there remain persistent barriers to digital integration and planning. These emanate both from material and cultural considerations, as well as leader vision and belief in digital learning.


The nuclear giant dipole resonance is discussed using a macroscopic model with two new features. The motion is treated as a combination of the usual Goldhaber-Teller displacement mode and the Steinwedel-Jensen acoustic mode, and the restoring forces are all calculated using the droplet model. The A dependence of the resonance energies is well reproduced without any adjustable parameters, and the actual magnitude of the energies serves to fix the value of the effective mass m* used in the theory. The giant dipole resonance is found to contain a large component of the Goldhaber-Teller type of motion, with the Steinwedel-Jensen mode becoming comparable for heavy nuclei. The width GAMMA of the giant dipole resonance is estimated on the basis of an expression for one-body damping.


The study of human mobility patterns is a crucially important research field for its impact on several socio-economic aspects and, in particular, the measure of regularity patters of human mobility can provide a across-the-board view of many social distancing variables in epidemics such as: human movement trends, physical interpersonal distances and population density. We will show that the notion of information entropy is also strongly related to demographic and economic trends by the use and analysis of real-time data. In the present research paper we address three different problems. First, we provide an evidence-based analytical approach which relates the human mobility patterns, social distancing attitudes and population density, with entropic measures which depict for erraticity of human contact behaviors. Second, we investigate the correlations between the aggregated mobility and entropic measures versus five external economic indicators. Finally,we show how entropic measures represents a useful tool for testing the limitations of typical assumptions in epidemiological and mobility models.


his article Dr. Gould fails to draw a proper distinction between the nitrous oxide anaesthesia for minor surgery, dentistry, etc., and the " secondary saturation " technique of McKesson for major surgery. (4) No clinical evidence is used by Dr. Gould in the support of his views. (5) The statement that " anaemic patients, in surgery, provide the great majority" is scarcely true of minor surgery or dentistry, but here again no distinction has been drawn. In the course of some sixty-odd nitrous oxide anaesthetics administered in this establishment, the majority having been given by the nasal route for dental extractions, no instance of nausea, headache, or vomiting was noted, though it is admitted that patients judged likely to be anaesthetic-resistant were usually given an intravenous barbiturate. The advantages of nitrous oxide for these patients are its simplicity and the portability of apparatus, quick recovery, and freedom from after-effects. It has been my experience that the above method functions very satisfactorily for minor surgery and dentistry, and anoxaemia need not be present provided that some experience has been gained in its use, and that an intravenous barbiturate is available for those cases judged to be unsuitable for nitrous oxide. In using the gas for major surgery a fullscale Boyle's (or similar) apparatus is required, including the necessary auxiliary agents which the anaesthetist should be prepared to use, as most authorities are now agreed that the secondary saturation technique has little to commend and much to condemn it.-I am, etc., M. H. W. HOLLOWAY, Surg. Lieut., R.N.V.R.


Two kinds of beam specimens made of composite laminated panel were designed and used to do vibration fatigue test for ε-N curves. the shapes of various simulated joint configurations for the specimens were adopted in order to get the accurate results. They were two kinds of double-cantilever beams supplied by T-mode stiffener and L-mode stiffener. All beam specimens were tested under the same shape of narrowband spectrum and the several loadings of random vibration by shaker excitation. The bandwidth of the narrowband random spectrum was 1/3 octave bandwidth whose centre frequency was the first resonance frequency of the cantilever beam, so that it reduced influences of the difference of specimens resonance frequency. Fitting vibration fatigue test results, the ε-N curves would be obtained then. The vibration test shows that this method of getting ε-N vibration curve is feasible. It can be used in practice.


When Spanish lawyer Mario Costeja "googled" his name, a news story about his former debt appeared. Costeja had paid the debt long ago but the story continued to follow him. He sued a local Spanish newspaper and Google, asking the court to delete the record of his former debt. He did not claim the debt was factually untrue but that he had a right to be forgotten. In May 2014, a European court required that Google delete links connecting Costeja to his debt, and for the first time formally recognized the right to be forgotten. In the short time since the court's ruling, Google has fielded 293,898 requests to deactivate more than 1 million links and has deleted over 40% of those, approximately 373,000 links. Deleted content – for now – disappears only from searches on European domain names, but pending E.U. legislation calls for worldwide applicability of the right to be forgotten. This Article suggests that the right to be forgotten is emblematic of the ambitious and ultimately flawed European approach to privacy law in the digital age. While informational privacy is undoubtedly important, an extraterritorial right to be forgotten harms more than helps. It allows one person on the other side of the globe to determine what the rest of us see. Its extraterritorial reach threatens to censor the Internet in its adolescence. It undermines democratic values attending national sovereignty by promoting one culture's adherence to privacy over other cultures' preference for free expression. It ignores a host of alternative approaches that tailor legal restrictions to the harms associated with privacy violations. This Article analyzes the conflict between free speech and the right to be forgotten, highlights the extraterritoriality and concomitant censorship implications of European privacy law, and articulates alternative regulatory frameworks that better balance free speech with informational privacy in the digital age.


Quantitative cloning efficiencies for B. megaterium, B. subtilis, and E. coli were compared. Transformation of B. megaterium is less efficient than transformation of B. subtilis or E. coli. The frequency of recombinant clones was equal in E. coli and B. megaterium; both somewhat higher than in B. subtilis. Equivalent average insert sizes were found in B. megaterium and E. coli clones, but significantly smaller inserts were obtained in B. subtilis clones. Clones obtained and propagated in B. megaterium were structurally stable when grown under plasmid selection.


Mandarin Chinese, a Sino-Tibetan language, has distinct syntactic and morphological structures in comparison to IndoEuropean languages. This study concerns Chinese infants' initial derivation of grammatical categories. We examined the prosodic properties of nouns and verbs of the maternal input speech. Non-word disyllabic noun-verb homophones were created and embedded in frequent carrier phrases. Mandarinspeaking mothers read these stimuli to their babies during a play session. Prosodic properties of noun and verb productions by these mothers were analyzed. The results show that isolated homophone nouns and verbs were identical prosodically. However, when these items were embedded in noun and verb carrier phrases, they exhibited some prosodic distinctions. Specifically, mean F0 of the second syllable of the non-words was significantly different in verb versus noun productions, and the duration ratios of the two syllables of the noun productions also differed for that of the verb productions. These results suggest that maternal speech contains some prosodic cues to nouns versus verbs, which might support infants' acquisition of grammatical categories. Index Terms: infant, lexical category, prosodic cues, verb and noun


The theory of viscoelasticity of textile assemblies developed in Parts I and III of this series of papers is applied to an experimental study of the performance of fabrics after physical equilibration processes such as ageing and annealing. The fabrics studied include those produced from wool and polyester fibers and also wool/polyester blends. The effect of annealing variables (temperature, time, and regain) on the fabric visco-elastic performance has been analyzed using the free volume concept. The fabric stress relaxation curves for any given annealing conditions can be predicted from two time shift factors, one depending on annealing temperature and the other on annealing time, and the knowledge of the fabric stress relaxation spectrum. The time shift factors are used to construct a series of master stress relaxation curves, thus providing a convenient means of describing the ageing and annealing behavior of textile materials. The relationship between ageing and annealing performance has also been examined for wool fabrics. The results indicate that the ageing and annealing processes can both be considered in terms of similar mechanisms, and the annealing process may be regarded as an accelerated ageing phenomenon.


A series of graves belonging to the Phoenician period were investigated after the campaign excavation of 2007 in the Phoenician-Punic necropolis of Monte Sirai (Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy). One tomb in particular (labelled 252) is presented here because of its uniqueness. Tomb 252 contained the cremated remains of an individual, probably male, and comparison of the excavation records alongside reconstruction of the bone material itself makes clear that the individual was cremated in a prone position. It represents the first case of prone cremation reported in the literature.

To investigate whether the temperature of the cremation was homogenous across the entire body, we have conducted a combined physical–chemical analysis using X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The study of peacebuilding in the aftermath of armed conflict has treated actors on the ground, whether domestic governments, peacekeeping missions, or NGOs, as homogenous units, void of meaningful variation in interests, behaviors, and actions. Yet, individual people make up these organizations, which means that an indepth exploration of the professionals who compose these organizations is sorely needed. Catherine Goetze's book, The Distinction of Peace: A Social Analysis of Peacebuilding, gives us a glimpse into these individuals and provides perhaps one of the first attempts at understanding how peacebuilding identity is formed and sustained. She argues that the peacebuilding profession has evolved to reflect the configuration of global power, resulting in a professional space in which membership depends on holding certain values, beliefs, and backgrounds. Individual peacebuilders largely represent middle class values such as autonomy, efficiency, leadership and accountability. In this way, she argues that the practice of peacebuilding reflects the global power structure dominated by the Western middle class, and is sustained through the creation of a habitus and the recruitment of highly individualized people whose values and beliefs align with the core foundation of the peacebuilding field. Much of the literature on peacebuilding assumes that peace operations implement policies and reforms in an unbiased way. Goetze's scholarship, however, aptly demonstrates how peacebuilding is not neutral. Peacebuilders' agendas, as she shows, are shaped largely by the identities of the individuals who make up the organizations. These individuals adopt Western, cosmopolitan, liberal identities. Pioneering figures such as Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, developed the basic practical framework for peacebuilding, but it was those he was surrounded by who shaped the identity of this framework. Ralph Bunche, a key architect of the United Nations Organization in the Congo (UNOC) mission (1960–1963); Andrew Cordier, Undersecretary in Charge of General Assembly; and Heinz Wieschhoff, advisor to Dag Hammarskjöld, among others, all embodied key elements of Western middle-class values. These include beliefs that wage income is earned through professional merit, value is bestowed on self-education and self-promotion, distance ought to be maintained from the lower class, and those in political power should exhibit a preference for state-centered public policy. This identity developed despite representation at the UN by a diverse population of Member States. Goetze argues that even though geographic origin does play a major role in the attainment of visible positions within the UN, so does background, especially educational and family background, and the backgrounds of high and mid-level UN bureaucrats are similar. National origins are less important than the sociological homogeneity of the field of applicants for such positions. Unlike many other books on peacebuilding, Goetze's approach is sociological. She develops the framework of Pierre Bourdieu, who uses the "field" as an empirical tool of analysis. A "field" privileges social relationships and social actors instead of institutions and institutional actors. Most books on peacebuilding have focused exclusively on the latter, but Goetze extends the concepts of the former into the realm of peacebuilding. She develops the Bourdieun concept of "habitus," or the "modus operandi," of culture to explain the sustainability of the peacebuilder identity. Professional identities persist because practices, habits, and behavior do not change easily once identity is internalized or normalized as "habitus." She uses different types of data—including two waves of surveys, prosopography analysis, in-depth interviews, extensive biographical research, and network analysis— to demonstrate the formation and preservation of peacebuilding culture. Using this framework and methods she concludes that the peacebuilding field encompasses a specific profession with institutionalized and normalized careers obtained through particular middle-class education, and that this identity is what is important to understand the domination of a particular type of Western liberal peacebuilding. In comparing her work to other scholarship on peacebuilding, it is striking that she highlights a need to understand the individuals who compose peacebuilding efforts, yet her analysis demonstrates the pervasiveness of


Groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) include many terrestrial and aquatic systems with high biodiversity and important ecosystem services. The need for protection of these systems has recently received increasing recognition in many regions, including the European Union (EU), as pressures on groundwater are increasing due to increased consumption in agriculture and intensive land use. A key issue is to provide legislative frameworks that safeguard the ecosystem services these systems provide. This paper reviews European legislation and present methods for theoretical frameworks, and hydrological and ecological observations of GDEs. Insights into the current state of research are provided and gaps in scientific knowledge identified. Different restoration and protection measures, such as buffer zones, are presented and evaluated. Recommendations are given for the future protection of GDEs. Future research should focus on nationally important GDE sites to establish conceptual models describing the individual and interactive impacts of multiple stressors on the hydrological and ecological functioning of GDEs. Proactive management is required to protect GDEs from contamination, for example by using extended buffer zones and careful land use planning in the groundwater capture zone.


The simultaneous production of multiple siderophores is considered a general strategy for microorganisms to rapidly adapt to their ever-changing environments. In this study, we show that some Shewanella spp. may downscale their capability for siderophore synthesis to facilitate adaptation. Although S. oneidensis lacks an enzyme specifically synthesizing cadaverine, it can produce it by using promiscuous ornithine decarboxylases. Despite this ability, this bacterium predominately produces the primary siderophore while restraining the production of secondary siderophores by regulating substrate availability. In addition to using the arginine decarboxylase (ADC) pathway for putrescine synthesis, cells optimize the putrescine pool for siderophore production. Our work provides an insight into the coordinated synthesis of multiple siderophores by harnessing promiscuous enzymes in bacteria and underscores the importance of substrate pools for the biosynthesis of natural products. ABSTRACT The siderophore synthetic system in Shewanella species is able to synthesize dozens of macrocyclic siderophores in vitro with synthetic precursors. In vivo, however, although three siderophores are produced naturally in Shewanella algae B516, which carries a lysine decarboxylase (AvbA) specific for siderophore synthesis, only one siderophore can be detected from many other Shewanella species. In this study, we examined a siderophore-overproducing mutant of Shewanella oneidensis which lacks an AvbA counterpart, and we found that it can also produce these three siderophores. We identified both SpeC and SpeF as promiscuous decarboxylases for both lysine and ornithine to synthesize the siderophore precursors cadaverine and putrescine, respectively. Intriguingly, putrescine is mainly synthesized from arginine through an arginine decarboxylation pathway in a constitutive manner, not liable to the concentrations of iron and siderophores. Our results provide further evidence that the substrate availability plays a determining role in siderophore production. Furthermore, we provide evidence to suggest that under iron starvation conditions, cells allocate more putrescine for siderophore biosynthesis by downregulating the expression of the enzyme that transforms putrescine into spermidine. Overall, this study provides another example of the great flexibility of bacterial metabolism that is honed by evolution to better fit living environments of these bacteria. IMPORTANCE The simultaneous production of multiple siderophores is considered a general strategy for microorganisms to rapidly adapt to their ever-changing environments. In this study, we show that some Shewanella spp. may downscale their capability for siderophore synthesis to facilitate adaptation. Although S. oneidensis lacks an enzyme specifically synthesizing cadaverine, it can produce it by using promiscuous ornithine decarboxylases. Despite this ability, this bacterium predominately produces the primary siderophore while restraining the production of secondary siderophores by regulating substrate availability. In addition to using the arginine decarboxylase (ADC) pathway for putrescine synthesis, cells optimize the putrescine pool for siderophore production. Our work provides an insight into the coordinated synthesis of multiple siderophores by harnessing promiscuous enzymes in bacteria and underscores the importance of substrate pools for the biosynthesis of natural products.


In the recent years, each industry has to face the situation of making the decisions from global markets, especially the industries within lower technicality. These industries earn money hardly in the perfectly competitive markets. Sometimes, decision makers have to decide how to allot orders in the different factories because of distinctive requests from individual consumer. It is necessary to find a way to help managers with making a decision and allotting orders effectively. The purpose of this study tries to develop a decision support system (DSS) to help the managers and decision makers of a real garment industry In Taiwan to decide order allocation, and we used genetic algorithm (GA) for analysis tools and results would be showed by visual graphs to assist managers in decision making. By decision support systems, managers and decision makers might decide order allocation quickly and save the costs. Finally, the decision support system results in a visional frame within lowest cost, and managers decide order allocation with effectiveness by graphs. With this infor- mation, decision makers might make different decisions in unlike situations for dissimilar goals. The system had developed to be used easily and suitable to the garment industries and other similar manufacturing industries.


This paper focuses on a narrow band technical solution that uses decentralized spectrum sharing to facilitate open access among competing personal communications services (PCS) operators. Existing policies that apportion spectrum by fixed channel assignment (FCA) involve inefficiencies resulting from fragmentation of the available resource into mutually exclusive frequency blocks. Dynamic channel assignment (DCA) has been previously demonstrated to be flexible in handling traffic variability and to simplify frequency planning for a single network operator. We use a discrete event simulation to demonstrate that DCA with autonomous reuse partitioning (ARP) provides more capacity than standard DCA; this property still holds when channels are shared among multiple operators, with partially overlapping networks and unequal traffic shares. We explore the impact of limiting the maximum number of channels that can be assigned to one cell site as an incentive for operators to build more cells, rather than simply appropriating channels from competitors.


In this paper we introduce Chiron (abbr. Chironomia ): A wearable device for the hand that reads the digital and analogous signals from capacitive sensor patterns and orientation sensors, to interpret user-intent. Here, we explore two cases -- (a) an unconventional and low-cost method for intuitive shape modeling and control, (b) ergonomically designing these patterns from conductive ink, for reading localized finger interactions (swiping or pinching). We also exploit Chiron's thumb-based interaction mechanism and discuss future novel applications.


Background We introduce several methods for fixation of unique Mayo type II olecranon fractures with the coronal plane fragment (CPF) including the entire coronoid process and report the radiological and clinical results through a case series. Materials and Methods 12 patients were operated using this method with a mean age of 44 years. CPFs were fixed with concurrent fixation by a locking plate screw for the olecranon in three patients (method 1), cerclage wiring in six patients (method 2), a mini plate in two patients (method 3), and a double-locking plate (method 4) in one patient. We accessed the fragment through an additional medial coronoid approach after identifying the olecranon fragment through a dorsal approach (methods 1–3). In method 4, the CPF was fixed through a dorsal approach between the comminuted metaphyseal fragments. Results With the exception of one patient with delayed union, all patients had achieved union at 3-month followup. The mean flexion extension arc was 125°. The mean pronation/supination was 72.5°/71.7° (range, 60–80°/60–80°). The mean visual analog scale score for elbow pain was 0.92 (range, 0–2), and the mean Mayo Elbow Performance Score was 86.7 (range, 80–90). The mean Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score was 10.2 (range, 4–14). There were no major complications. Conclusion A thorough preoperative understanding of the fragment patterns and preparation of tools for adequate reduction and fixation are necessary for satisfactory clinical and radiological outcomes. However, further comparative trials of conservative management versus surgery for CPF fixation, and any differences in outcomes according to the CPF fixation options, are required.


Abstract. Along with minimizing parameter uncertainty, understanding the cause of temporal and spatial variability of the nucleated ice crystal number, Ni, is key to improving the representation of cirrus clouds in climate models. To this end, sensitivities of Ni to input variables like aerosol number and diameter provide valuable information about nucleation regime and efficiency for a given model formulation. Here we use the adjoint model of the adjoint of a cirrus formation parameterization (Barahona and Nenes, 2009b) to understand Ni variability for various ice-nucleating particle (INP) spectra. Inputs are generated with the Community Atmosphere Model version 5, and simulations are done with a theoretically derived spectrum, an empirical lab-based spectrum and two field-based empirical spectra that differ in the nucleation threshold for black carbon particles and in the active site density for dust. The magnitude and sign of Ni sensitivity to insoluble aerosol number can be directly linked to nucleation regime and efficiency of various INP. The lab-based spectrum calculates much higher INP efficiencies than field-based ones, which reveals a disparity in aerosol surface properties. Ni sensitivity to temperature tends to be low, due to the compensating effects of temperature on INP spectrum parameters; this low temperature sensitivity regime has been experimentally reported before but never deconstructed as done here.


The surface of several laboratory strains of Staphylococcus aureus were observed with a scanning electron microscope, and the presence of two morphologically characteristic structures--a ridge separating cell surface into old and new surfaces and a concentric circular structure--are described. These two structures seemed to be present universally on the surfaces of cells of the genus Staphylococcus. The removal of the circular structures by a mild treatment of the cell with trichloroacetic acid suggested that this structure seemed to represent circularly arranged teichoic acid. With experiments using morphologically recognizable markers among three of the cell wall components, clumping factor, phage receptor, and protein A, the clumping factor was proven to be specifically localized on the old surface; and more phage receptors were detected on the old surface than on the new surface, but protein A was present all over the cell surface. This indicated that the clumping factor and most of the phage receptors appeared on the cell wall surface in a late stage of the cell growth cycle, but protein A was present in an early stage of the growth. The idea of aging of the cell wall is discussed.


The fragmentation behavior of native and singly derivatized protonated disaccharides were examined by fast ion bombardment Fourier transform mass spectrometry to determine the origin of various fragment ions produced during desorption–ionization. The lack of interfering matrix ions in this technique allowed the investigation of model disaccharides. Three major product ions were observed, corresponding in mass to a loss of H2O, a loss of a monosaccharide unit and a combination of both losses. The oxygen of the lost H2O molecule originates from an oxygen attached to the anomeric carbon. The other two product ions come from two different monosaccharide units and are due to competing processes. The relative ion intensities of these two fragment ions are governed by the basicities of the fragments. The basicity of the reducing end increases when the hemiacetal is converted into the methyl glycoside. This increase in basicity is due to the increased size of the alkyl group and the ability of the alkyl group to prevent the opening of the reducing glycosidic ring.


An experimental study of bubble growth from submerged orifice plates in pools of water is carried out to scale and correlate the effects of surface wettability and orifice diameter D0 on ebullience. Measurements of bubble growth on surfaces with nine different contact angles (38° ≤ θ ≤ 128°) with varying air flow rates (1 to 300 ml/min) were made using high speed videography and image processing. In the static or constant-volume regime, below a critical contact angle θc, the bubble base remains attached to the orifice and the equivalent departure diameter Db is independent of contact angle θ. On the other hand, above the critical contact angle, the bubble base spreads on the surface resulting in larger Db. For θ > θc, Db is strongly dependent on θ and increases with it. Using minimum energy method, it is shown that the wettability effects can be scaled and correlated by a modified capillary length, defined as a function of the Laplace length and contact angle. The proposed correlation provides predictions of Db that agree with experimental data of this study as well as those available in the literature to within ±15 %. Moreover, for a hydrophobic surface when D0 > twice the modified capillary length, the bubble grows inside the orifice; for a hydrophilic surface this scales with twice the capillary length and effect of θ is not seen.


This is the seventh chapter of the book Corporations in 100 Pages (2020), authored by Holger Spamann, Scott Hirst, and Gabriel Rauterberg. The book is an introduction to corporate law for students and anyone else interested in the foundations of corporate law. The book provides an accessible, self-contained presentation of the field's essentials: what corporations are, how they are governed, their interactions with their investors, and other stakeholders, major transactions (M&A), and parallels with other legal entities, including partnerships. Optional background chapters cover the investor ecosystem, contemporary corporate governance, and corporate finance. The book's exposition of doctrine and policy is nuanced and sophisticated, yet short and simple enough for a quick read.

In addition to this Chapter 7 ("Mergers & Acquisitions"), we have also made available on SSRN Chapter 1 ("Corporations & Corporate Law") (https://ssrn.com/abstract=3655213) and Chapter 5 of the book ("Fiduciary Duties") (https://ssrn.com/abstract=3655217).

Chapter 7, "Mergers and Acquisitions," discusses ways of buying all or part of a corporation. The chapter provides an overview of these transactions and introduces key concepts and the main sources of law. The chapter then explains the three ways in which all or part of a corporation can be acquired—by acquiring its assets, acquiring its shares, and through a merger with another corporation—and the legal and practical differences between the three structures and variants thereof. The chapter explains the difference between friendly and hostile transactions, and the legal rules regarding how corporations may permissibly defend themselves against hostile transactions. The chapter also discusses the special considerations and rules that apply to mergers and acquisitions involving controlling shareholders. Finally, the chapter discusses litigation concerning mergers and acquisitions.


Abstract Environmental crimes, if they are perceived as victimless, have not received the appropriate governmental response and have been frequently ranked low on the law enforcement priority list, punished with lenient or no administrative sanctions. This has contributed to an underestimation of the immediate consequences of environmental crimes, which can go undetected for lengthy periods. On the contrary, the mismanagement and illegal trafficking of waste in the Land of Fires, an area in the Campania region in the South of Italy, has been experienced as a 'victimful' crime. Using a political ecology of health approach, and integrating qualitative and quantitative methods, we investigate how the perception of being a victim of waste-related environmental crimes has been magnified by evidence of serious disease outcomes. Health concerns have become a central issue in the resurgence of grassroots movements against waste mismanagement in Campania. Keywords: Environmental crime, political ecology of health, waste conflict, Campania


Feruloyl esterases (FAEs) can reduce the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass to enzymatic hydrolysis, thereby enhancing biorefinery potentials or animal feeding values of the biomass. In addition, ferulic acid, a product of FAE activity, has applications in pharmaceutical and food/beverage industries. It is therefore of great interest to identify new FAEs to enhance understanding about this enzyme family. For this purpose, we used whole-genome shotgun metagenomics and genome binning to explore rumens of dairy cows, large intestines of horses, sediments of freshwater and forest topsoils to identify novel prokaryotic FAEs and trace the responsible microorganisms. A number of prokaryotic genomes were recovered of which, genomes of Clostridiales order and Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia genus showed FAE coding capacities. In total, five sequences were deemed as putative FAE. The BLASTP search against non-redundant protein database of NCBI indicated that these putative FAEs represented novel sequences within this enzyme family. The phylogenetic analysis showed that at least three putative sequences shared evolutionary lineage with FAEs of type A and thus could possess specific activities similar to this type of FAEs, something that is not previously found outside fungal kingdom. We nominate Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia genus as a novel FAE producing taxonomic unit.


The histology of the spleen, lymph nodes, Gut‐associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) and Bronchus‐associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) are described for samples collected opportunistically from healthy and mycobacteria‐affected specimens of the endangered marsupial Lagorchestes hirsutus, the Rufous Hare‐wallaby. The structural elements, organization and distribution of T and B lymphocytes determined by immunohistological techniques using species cross‐reactive antibodies in the lymph nodes, spleen and GALT of this species demonstrated lymphoid cell distributions that were consistent with other marsupial and eutherian mammals. The tissues of animals identified as acid‐fast positive displayed immunopathology consistent with the responses to intracellular bacteria displayed in some eutherian mammals and included the presence of focal lesions, giant cells in the lung and lymphoid aggregations situated adjacent to blood and airway vessels. This is the first study to describe the lymphoid tissue of this rare macropod species and the first to document the tissue bed response to mycobacteria.


Objective To identify economic evaluations of interventions to control STIs and HIV targeting young people, and to assess how costs and outcomes are measured in these studies. Design Systematic review. Data sources Seven databases were searched (Medline (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), Web of Science, PsycINFO, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, NHS Health Technology Assessment and Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects) from January 1999 to April 2019. Key search terms were STIs (chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis) and HIV, cost benefit, cost utility, economic evaluation, public health, screening, testing and control. Review methods Studies were included that measured costs and outcomes to inform an economic evaluation of any programme to control STIs and HIV targeting individuals predominantly below 30 years of age at risk of, or affected by, one or multiple STIs and/or HIV in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Data were extracted and tabulated and included study results and characteristics of economic evaluations. Study quality was assessed using the Philips and BMJ checklists. Results were synthesised narratively. Results 9530 records were screened and categorised. Of these, 31 were included for data extraction and critical appraisal. The majority of studies assessed the cost-effectiveness or cost-utility of screening interventions for chlamydia from a provider perspective. The main outcome measures were major outcomes averted and quality-adjusted life years. Studies evaluated direct medical costs, for example, programme costs and 11 included indirect costs, such as productivity losses. The study designs were predominantly model-based with significant heterogeneity between the models. Discussion/Conclusion None of the economic evaluations encompassed aspects of equity or context, which are highly relevant to sexual health decision-makers. The review demonstrated heterogeneity in approaches to evaluate costs and outcomes for STI/HIV control programmes. The low quality of available studies along with the limited focus, that is, almost all studies relate to chlamydia, highlight the need for high-quality economic evaluations to inform the commissioning of sexual health services.


This paper reports on the influence of load representation on the small-signal stability of power systems. With this aim, simulations considering different representations for load modeling such as; constant impedance, constant current, constant power, induction motor and a combination of such representations were performed and the influence of load representation on the damping of the electromechanical oscillations and thus on the overall system stability was analyzed. The results obtained from the simulations indicate that using the constant impedance representation yields the lowest damping of the local modes while the constant power representation leads to the lowest damping of the inter-area modes.


Background and Objectives:
An estimated 15% of the global population are living with a disability. Children with disabilities remain one of the most vulnerable populations, experiencing significant barriers to wellness and inclusion. In countries like Kenya, it is a challenge to navigate the existing resources available to support individuals with disabilities. Our objective is to develop an interactive map of organizations and institutions that provide medical, educational, financial, or social resources to children with disabilities in Kenya. The target audience for this tool includes persons with disabilities, caregivers, medical professionals, and organization leaders.
Project Methods:
A comprehensive list of 219 organizations, institutions, and government offices was compiled from various online directories. Each organization was contacted for an interview to verify contact information, address, services offered, payment options, requirement for enrollment, and transport services. Based on the services offered, each organization was assigned categorical search tags. The data was entered into a third-party mapping site. The map was embedded within the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) website.
Future Steps:
The next two phases include: improving mapping quality and gathering feedback from key stakeholders. For instance, team members in Kenya are visiting each organization to take a photo of the site from the road and pin the specific location using mapping coordinates. In the next month, the pilot version of the map and a short survey will be sent to key stakeholders in Kenya. This feedback will inform revisions for future implementation.
Potential Impact:
Using the search features, this tool will allow medical professionals to provide more patient-specific referrals and caregivers to independently access these resources. Additionally, this map will inform organizations where resources are limited within the country. Ultimately, this interactive map will serve as a bridge to connect children with disabilities and their families to needed services.


Abstract Hyperinsulinemia increases the risk of cardiovascular disease in obese children. Only a few treatments are available to decrease insulin resistance. The reduction of hyperinsulinemia by dietary means would be a simple, physiologic and economic way to reduce the risk of metabolic disease. Objective: To compare the effects of two low-energy diets on serum insulin concentrations and weight loss in obese hyperinsulinemic adolescents. Materials and methods: Eighty-six randomly assigned insulin-resistant obese adolescents completed a 16 week calorie-restricted diet. The experimental diet had a reduced glycemic index designed to evoke a low insulin response (LIR), with carbohydrates and proteins ingested in separate meals. The control diet was a conventional (CD) with similar proportions (60%, 20% and 20%). Variables studied were blood glucose and insulin concentrations after an oral glucose load, body mass index, waist circumference, and insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment, HOMA). Results: Mean weight [±Standard Deviation (SD)] was significantly reduced after the LIR (–0.53±0.5) and the CD (–0.54±0.4), but a greater decrease of waist circumference (cm) was observed after the LIR (–9.1±4.8 vs. –6.6±4.6, p=0.02). Fasting insulin concentrations (–17.9±27.9 vs. –9.4±14.8, p=0.01) and HOMA dropped significantly more after the LIR than after the CD (–3.5±4.9SD vs. –2.4±1SD, p<0.0001). Conclusions: The LIR diet reduces serum insulin concentrations and waist circumference more than conventional treatment and appears to be a promising alternative to a conventional diet in insulin-resistant obese adolescents. Long-term follow-up is needed to evaluate the maintenance of weight loss and metabolic parameters.


Analysis of the residual stress state, the microstructure and surface topography of ceramic microcomponents made of Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 produced by micro powder injection moulding were performed. During the production of the microspecimens sintering conditions were varied. The measurement of residual stresses has been carried out using the MAXIM (MAterials XRay IMaging) diffractometer at HASYLAB beamline G3 at DESY in Hamburg (Germany). The microstructure and surface topography of differently moulded specimens were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a confocal white light microscope type NANOFOCUS. The findings are used to establish correlations between process parameters and characteristics of the microcomponents. These will allow to improve the production process with respect to the mechanical properties of the microcomponents.


A search for lepton-flavor-violating Z→eτ and Z→μτ decays with pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. This analysis uses 139  fb^{-1} of Run 2 pp collisions at sqrt[s]=13  TeV and is combined with the results of a similar ATLAS search in the final state in which the τ lepton decays hadronically, using the same data set as well as Run 1 data. The addition of leptonically decaying τ leptons significantly improves the sensitivity reach for Z→ℓτ decays. The Z→ℓτ branching fractions are constrained in this analysis to B(Z→eτ)<7.0×10^{-6} and B(Z→μτ)<7.2×10^{-6} at 95% confidence level. The combination with the previously published analyses sets the strongest constraints to date: B(Z→eτ)<5.0×10^{-6} and B(Z→μτ)<6.5×10^{-6} at 95% confidence level.


The UV sunscreen role commonly ascribed to mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) was investigated with an isolate of the terrestrial cyanobacterium Gloeocapsa sp. strain C-90-Cal-G.(2), which accumulates intracellularly an MAA with absorbance maximum at 326 nm but produces no extracellular sunscreen compound (i.e., scytonemin). The intracellular concentrations of MAA achieved were directly related to the intensity of the UV radiation (maximum at 320 nm) received by the cells. However, the presence of high concentrations of MAA was not necessary for the physiological acclimation of the cultures to UV radiation. The measured sunscreen factor due to MAA in single cells was 0.3 (the MAA prevented 3 out of 10 photons from hitting potential cytoplasmic targets). High contents of MAA in the cells correlated with increased resistance to UV radiation. However, when resistance was gauged under conditions of desiccation, with inoperative physiological photoprotective and repair mechanisms, cells with high MAA specific contents were only 20 to 25% more resistant. Although UV radiation centered around both 320 and 365 nm resulted in chlorophyll a photobleaching and photoinhibition of photosynthesis, the difference in sensitivity correlated with MAA accumulation occurred only at 320 nm (absorbed by MAA) and not at 365 nm (not absorbed by MAA). This difference represents the maximal protection ascribable to the presence of MAA for single cells, i.e., if one does not consider the enhancing effects of colony formation on protection by sunscreens.


The purpose of donor evaluation for adult‐to‐adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is to discover medical conditions that could increase the donor postoperative risk of complications and to determine whether the donor can yield a suitable graft for the recipient. We report the outcomes of LDLT donor candidates evaluated in a large multicenter study of LDLT. The records of all donor candidates and their respective recipients between 1998 and 2003 were reviewed as part of the Adult‐to‐Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study (A2ALL). The outcomes of the evaluation were recorded along with demographic data on the donors and recipients. Of the 1011 donor candidates evaluated, 405 (40%) were accepted for donation. The donor characteristics associated with acceptance (P < 0.05) were younger age, lower body mass index, and biological or spousal relationship to the recipient. Recipient characteristics associated with donor acceptance were younger age, lower Model for End‐stage Liver Disease score, and shorter time from listing to first donor evaluation. Other predictors of donor acceptance included earlier year of evaluation and transplant center. Conclusion: Both donor and recipient features appear to affect acceptance for LDLT. These findings may aid the donor evaluation process and allow an objective assessment of the likelihood of donor candidate acceptance. (HEPATOLOGY 2007.)


In this paper, we investigate the robustness and the effectiveness of a microwave imaging technique, based on the Bayesian estimation theory, for the reconstruction of dielectric profiles. The method has been applied and validated on real experimental data. Our statistical-based inversion algorithm takes advantage of Bayesian regularization, which permits the inversion of a strongly nonlinear model using a Markov random field as an a priori statistical model of the unknown image. Such choice leads to a robust and effective nonlinear inversion method. The exhaustive analysis performed on the experimental data shows the good performance of the method.


Dyschromatosis symmetrica hereditaria (DSH) is a rare autosomal dominant genodermatosis, presenting in infancy or early childhood with areas of hyperpigmentation on dorsa of hands and feet. DSH has been reported mainly from Japan and only limited cases have been reported from other countries. This is the first report of an Iranian patient with this rare type of acropigmentation. Our patient's family history was striking with the same disorder in her grandmother, mother, uncle and her two older sisters which reveal an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance.


We describe in detail a technique due to Vojta for finding the explicit set of curves of low genus on certain algebraic surfaces of general type, and refine some of its aspects. We then provide applications of this method to three Diophantine problems. We prove under the Bombieri-Lang Conjecture that there are finitely many nontrivial sequences of integers of length 11 whose squares have constant second differences, and we prove unconditionally the analogous result for function fields of characteristic zero. We prove under the Bombieri-Lang Conjecture that there are finitely many integer sequences of length 8 whose k-th powers have second differences equal to 2, we give an unconditional result for function fields of characteristic zero. Moreover, this gives new examples of surfaces having no curves of genus 0 or 1. The third application is related to the surface parametrizing perfect cuboids. We give some new properties about their curves of genus 0 or 1 and we give new bounds for the degree of curves in this surface, in terms of their genus.


Contemporary and future cities are often labeled as "smart cities," "ubiquitous cities," "knowledge cities" and "creative cities." Informational urbanism includes all aspects of information and knowledge with regard to urban regions. "Informational city" is an umbrella term uniting the divergent trends of information-related city research. Informational urbanism is an interdisciplinary endeavor incorporating on the one side computer science and information science and on the other side urbanism, architecture, (city) economics, and (city) sociology. In our research project on informational cities, we visited more than 40 metropolises and smaller towns all over the world. In this paper, we sketch the theoretical background on a journey from Max Weber to the Internet of Things, introduce our research methods, and describe main results on characteristics of informational cities as prototypical cities of the emerging knowledge society.


Hemidesmus indicus R.Br. is a treasure of the forest and herbal wealth. It is being used as folk medicines and as an ingredient in Ayurveda and Unani preparations against diseases of blood, inflammation, diarrhea, urinary disorders and rheumatism etc. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the role of natural nephroprotectant Hemidesmus indicus for the treatment of congestive heart failure. Hemidesmus indicus extracts were evaluated by using salt water induced left ventricular hypertrophy in Spargue dawley rat model. The property was evaluated using serum creatinine, urea, SGOT, SGPT and urine albumin, creatinine, Na + , K + and Ca ++ as biochemical parameters and histopathological changes including myocyte diameter, neutrophil infiltration and cardiac hypertrophy. Results obtained from the present study indicates that aqueous and methanolic extracts have more significant inhibitory effect on salt water feeding induced severity of microalbuminuria, serum urea and creatinine, myocyte diameter and retention of Na + and water and increases the serum calcium level. We conclude from the present study that, potent natural nephroprotectant Hemidesmus indicus is also a potent cardioprotective.


In this paper, we investigate the relations between the Radon and weighted divergent beam and cone transforms. Novel inversion formulas are derived for the latter two. The weighted cone transform arises, for instance, in image reconstruction from the data obtained by Compton cameras, which have promising applications in various fields, including biomedical and homeland security imaging and gamma ray astronomy. The inversion formulas are applicable for a wide variety of detector geometries in any dimension. The results of numerical implementation of some of the formulas in dimensions two and three are also provided.


There seems to be fewer policy issues in Washington and around America which cause more arguments than affirmative action. Both sides in this debate are deeply entrenched and show little, if any, signs of movement. Is it a catalyst or an albatross? In this book, the author has gathered articles concerning the historical background of the legislation and its implementation, analyses of its effects and proposals for revision of various provisions of the law. He has tried to concentrate on issues of employment although two articles cover sexual harassment and one deals with American's with disabilities. The heart of the affirmative action policy is, after all, an attempt toward fairness. One of the pillars which supports America's claim toward greatness is the idea that all of its citizens should have a fair chance. Action is surely required to realise this dream, but which action? It is the author's intention that the papers in this volume will present a useful review of this crucial issue.


A process for synthesis of fine zirconium titanate powders by chemical route is described. Zirconium/titanium molar ratio was varied from 0.67 to 1.5 and the powders produced were analyzed. The precipitation process comprises the mixture of zirconium and titanium metal salt solutions to ammonium hydroxide solution, followed by washing of the precipitate, calcination and grinding to result in zirconium titanate. The ceramic powder is then uniaxially pressed as cylindrical samples and sintered at 1400°C for 5 hours. The microstructure of fractured and thermally etched ceramic was observed by scanning electron microscopy, and crystal phase identifications were done by X-ray diffraction. At least two different zirconium titanate phases, ZrTiO4 and Zr5Ti7O24, were identified. Ceramic hardness was measured by Vickers indentation.


Preparation of membranes from stimuli-responsive polymers, copolymers, and polymer-additive mixtures is an important approach in the design of responsive membranes. N-isopropylacrylamide(NIPPAm) was dispersed in polyurethane(PU) solution, crosslinked with N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide(BIS) and then cast in bathes to get a thermosensitive microporous film. The ratio of NIPAAm with BIS amount and the cast medium were varied. The structure, surface and cross-section images of polyurethane/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PU/PNIPPAm) semi- interpenetrating networks (semi-IPNs) were characterized by FT-IR and SEM. The swelling behavior of pure PU films and PU/PNIPPAm semi-IPNs were compared. The results showed that incorporation of PNIPPAm had great effect on the structure and swelling behavior of composite films. This approach enables fabrication of membranes with the desired pore structure.


Abstract On 18 July 1995, after more than three years of irregularly increasing seismicity, phreatic explosions opened a new vent on Soufrière Hills Volcano, about 4 km east of the capital city of Plymouth, Montserrat. By early August 1995, the volcano was monitored by a nine-station seismic network, three telemetered electronic tiltmeters, and daily correlation spectroscopy (COSPEC) flights to measure S02 emission rates and to observe vent areas. Seismicity and S02 emission rates implicated magma intrusion as the cause of the seismic unrest. Strong evidence of magma ascent to shallow levels, however, did not appear until late September 1995, when increasing numbers of hybrid events heralded the formation of a small dome and spine. We infer from the data that intrusion of a small volume of magma occurred in July, but stalled on ascent. Degassing of the stalled magma formed a carapace that thickened with time. We suggest that either volatile build-up beneath the degassed carapace, or aseismic intrusion of fresh material, finally forced the stalled magma to the surface in late September 1995. A similar cycle of activity appears to have occurred during the second phreatic phase between late September and mid-November 1995.


TiB2/TiN composites with various content of Ni and Mo as sintering aid were hot-pressed at 1530°C. Effect of the content of sintering aid on microstructure and mechanical properties is investigated. Experimental results show that the fracture toughness of the composites increases consistently with an increase in the sintering aid content, however, the flexural strength gets to the maximum when the content of sintering aid is 10vol%. A new eutectic phase of MoNi can be found in the composites by X-ray diffraction (XRD) when the amount of sintering aid is over 7vol%. Scan electron microscope (SEM) analysis shows that the density of the composites increases consistently with the increasing of the sintering aid. But the abnormal-growth grains can be found and deteriorates the flexural strength in the composite No.4 because of the excessive sintering aid.


Background and objective: Nurses deal with complex human rights issues arising from difficult situations and ethical dilemmas involving patients, relatives, and health care professionals. Human rights education can enable nurses to understand principles of human rights and apply them at work in their efforts to provide high quality care. The objective for this study was to describe how human rights material was integrated into a professional ethics course for master degree nursing students and to facilitate nurse educators' efforts to include such material in their courses. Methods: In this qualitative study, data consisted of responses to a human rights assignment by 23 nursing students at a university of applied sciences in Finland. Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns and themes from the assignment. Results: Participants' consensus was that human rights education should be part of nursing curricula. Students described what they learned, identified similarities and differences between human rights principles and ethical codes, gave examples applying human rights principles to their work, and stated how they could better protect human rights of nurses and their patients. Conclusions: Learning about human rights reinforces nurses' knowledge and application of ethical codes and increases their awareness of factors necessary for quality care.


Our objective was to review the current body of evidence supporting the efficacy of self-management programs in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other chronic neurological conditions. We reviewed published literature using standardized search terms; examined self-management interventions in a variety of chronic neurological disorders, including MS; and classified studies using the evidence classification established by the American Academy of Neurology. We reviewed 527 abstracts, of which 39 met our inclusion criteria for evaluation. Of the 39 studies, 3 provided class I evidence assessing the efficacy of self-management interventions: a randomized controlled trial of a telephone counseling program for health promotion in MS, a home-based exercise program for reducing falls in people with Parkinson disease, and the comparison of a fitness center program versus a home-based exercise program for people with traumatic brain injury. The remaining studies provided additional support for self-management interventions with a lesser degree of methodologic rigor (class II, class III, or class IV evidence). We concluded that self-management strategies are applicable to chronic neurological diseases, but a need exists for more rigorous studies in this area. We provide recommendations for future intervention study methodologies with a specific emphasis on MS care.


Maurotoxin (MTX) is a 34-mer scorpion toxin cross-linked by four disulphide bridges that acts on various K(+) channels, including the voltage-gated Shaker B subtype. In the present study, we have investigated over 80 h: (1) the time-course of folding of synthetic MTX (sMTX) by CD analysis; (2) the kinetics of disulphide bridge formation by MS; and (3) the potency of MTX in blocking Shaker B currents during the combined process of its in vitro folding and oxidation. From the CD data, we show that stable secondary structures of sMTX evolve sequentially over time, with the appearance of the alpha-helix within 5 h, followed by the formation of the beta-sheet within 22 h. Using MS analysis, the sMTX intermediates were also found to appear sequentially from the least (one-disulphide-bridged sMTX) to the most oxidized species (native-like, four-disulphide-bridged sMTX). The time course of formation of secondary structures coincides mainly with the occurrence of one-disulphide-bridged sMTX for the alpha-helix and two- or three-disulphide-bridged sMTX for the beta-sheet. On-line electrophysiological recordings, which measure sMTX blocking efficacy on K(+) currents during its folding and oxidation, were performed on Shaker B channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Unexpectedly, the results demonstrate that sMTX is highly potent at the initial stage of oxidation, whereas its blocking activity can be transiently and dramatically reduced at later stages during the course of folding/oxidation before it reaches full bioactivity. These data suggest that formation of disulphide bridges can both physically stabilize and alter the bioactive three-dimensional structure of sMTX.


Compared to the predictive models for forecasting crude oil price, the descriptive models are also important for discovering the relations among factors that have influence on crude oil price. In this paper, linguistic summarization of time series, a descriptive technique, is used to summarize the Europe Brent Spot Price (EBSP) data (dollars per barrel) from May 1987 to July 2013 on daily and monthly base. This study is the first attempt in the literature for linguistic summarization of the EBSP time series with the aim to establish a decision support tool that can be used for generating linguistic propositions helping the estimation of future behaviors and fluctuations of oil price time series for oil‐importer countries such as Turkey. Economic interpretations of generated linguistic propositions about the main features of EBSP trends (duration, dynamics of change, and variability) and a procurement strategy, indicating that Turkey could cut back on oil importation about $573.88 million between 1996 and 2012, are suggested from the perspective of Turkey.